As Lydia Polgreen sees it, society is currently divided into media haves and have nots, and it’s important for HuffPost to remain mostly free for its readers so that it can serve a group that mostly consumes content for free. In a wide-ranging conversation covering the role of consolidation in the current media marketplace and platforms that have performed the best for HuffPost, Polgreen was most emphatic on the need for free or low-cost content online.
In support of independent news sources, she expressed her commitment to the idea of free to no-cost consumer news. “I am very committed to the idea of free to no-cost consumer news,” said Polgreen in an interview with Recode’s Kara Swisher and Peter Kafka at the Code Media conference in Huntington Beach, Calif.
One way to support that independence is to have the big corporate parent that HuffPost enjoys in Verizon (also the owner of TechCrunch through its acquisition and merger of AOL and Yahoo into Oath). “Any content company has to be thinking about the fact that all content consumption is converging on mobile devices. In 2018 probably the best owner you can have is a phone company,” said Polgreen.
In terms of Verizon’s involvement in HuffPost, Polgreen added that there haven’t been any concerns regarding journalistic independence. “Our journalistic independence has been intact,” she stated. However, looking ahead at a world where the device we receive our content is also owned by the people making that content raises questions around free speech and net neutrality.
News plays a central role in the media landscape as well as Verizon’s approach to online content. “News is the dial tone of media,” said Polgreen, quoting one of their bosses.
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